The Lion Sleeps Tonight
by Ajalea
Summary: What do you do when someone is stuck in the city you live in? Corazon offers Bellemere a bed to sleep in after she found out the trains aren't working. Strangers can be the best listeners and talking about the people you love never is a bad thing. In the beginning, they were strangers, but will they be when Bellemere leaves for home?


**Here's my piece for this year's Share the Love Month! I want to warn y'all beforehand that this is an AU, which means not only that both Corazon and Bellemère (or Rosi and Belle in this fic) are still alive, but Law was able to grow up with our dear Corazon! How great is that :D That also means that Law has grown up a little different from the canon One Piece universe and he will act different :)**

 **If you know nothing of Law's past, it might be a bit spoiler-y ^^'**

 **Reviews will always be appreciated ;)** **All the notes done, I hope you enjoy~**

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He heard her from a small distance, arguing with a member of the railway station staff. Rosinante couldn't hear exactly what they were talking about, but their heated conversation said enough.

Rosi had just returned from visiting a friend and had been on his way to the bus station, right next to one side of the train tracks. With a few minutes to spare, he approached the man and woman, curious what they were discussing.

"- you expect me to sit in a bus for three days to get home?"

"I'm very sorry, ma'am, but there is a technical default near the city you want to go, so there are no trains going in that direction right now." The man tried to explain.

Rosi was now standing next to the woman and interrupted her as she wanted to say something. "Are the trains not working, sir?"

"No, I'm sorry. Not in the direction she wishes to go."

"How about any detours?" Rosi asked to both the employee and the woman.

"I'm afraid no train is able to go there at this time. The only possibility is by bus, but that will take approximately double the time as it's impossible to get there in a straight line like the train does."

Rosi had taken over the conversation completely. "When do you think it'll be fixed?"

"In a day, I think. Maybe it will take slightly longer." The man answered. "I suggest you find either a bus or a hotel, ma'am."

"Thank you." Rosi said, turning away from the man.

The employee touched his hat with one hand and took his leave.

"You know anyone you can go to around here?" Rosi asked the woman, studying her features.

She had her red hair cut in a weird fashion, the sides mostly shaved away and a Mohawk-like ponytail starting on her forehead and ending in her neck.

"None."

"And since you don't want to get on a bus, how about a hotel?"

The woman sighed. "Not enough money. As you can see, I'm not as fancy dressed as you are." She pointed at her blouse, which looked like it had seen better days.

"I have a place where you can crash." He suggested.

She pulled up one eyebrow. "How do I know you're not a serial killer, waiting for me to be asleep so you can murder me?"

Rosi mimicked her expression. "Then how do _I_ know you're not a serial killer, waiting for me to be asleep so you can murder me?"

"Fair point." Belle blinked. "Lead the way then, I'll be happy to take that offer."

"Alright then." Rosi led the way to the buses. He stopped for a moment to reach out his hand to her. "Rosinante. Rosi." He corrected himself.

"Well, Rosinante Rosi, nice to meet you." She smiled. "Bellemère, call me Belle." She accepted the hand.

Rosi's eyes sparkled. "Like _Belle and the Beast_?"

"If you'd like, yes." Bellemère shrugged.

Rosi motioned. "This way."

Belle heard Rosi curse softly under his breath before she saw he had cut his finger. She was sitting next to the counter and was currently looking at Rosi, who did an attempt of chopping up vegetables.

He looked at her, his apology already on the tip of his tongue, his bleeding finger moving to the sink so it wouldn't spoil any food.

She stopped him with a bright smile. "Is it alright if I step in for a moment?" She walked over to Rosi. "A friend of mine is a chef and he taught me some tricks. See it as a thank you for letting me stay here tonight."

Rosi reluctantly let her pass and sat by the counter, barely avoiding falling off his seat.

Belle happily chatted away while searching for something in the fridge and chopping up some vegetables. "I have two children waiting for me. Well, they think they aren't children anymore, but they'll always be children to me."

Rosi smiled at that, thinking about how Law made him feel the same. "How old are they?" He asked, quietly.

Belle stopped chopping for a moment. "We're not entirely sure. I adopted them after some incident and at that time Nojiko was around four and Nami must have been a year old. If you'd believe that, Nojiko is twenty now and Nami is seventeen."

"An incident?"

Belle looked at him. "Yeah. While I was a marine, I found them in the middle of a warzone. I rescued them and took them in, not trusting the local authorities at that time." She looked at Rosi with a grin. "I was in no way prepared for bringing up two kids on my own. At the worst times I wished I had listened to all those people saying that I wasn't fit to be a mother and should have left them where they came from."

Rosi opened his mouth to say something, but Belle continued.

"Maybe I just wanted to prove to those people that they were wrong about me or maybe I had already fallen in love with those girls." She threw away the rest parts of the veggies and put the chopped up greens in a pot with boiling water.

Rosi followed what Belle was doing, watching her hands move swiftly and with precision. He was staring so intently he didn't notice Belle was looking at him too.

His eyes flicked up when he noticed her hands had stopped moving.

Belle caught his gaze. "You hungry? It will be done soon." She looked at what she was doing. "Not sure if it's what you had in mind though."

"I don't mind." Rosi pulled up the corners of his lips. "Thank you."

Belle frowned. "For taking over cooking? I could be trying to poison you, y'know."

"For talking. I'm not great at filling up silences." To be sure, Rosi followed whatever Belle did to the food.

Belle shrugged it off. "I don't mind. And I'm not trying to poison you."

Instead of talking, she hummed a song while finishing dinner. Rosi vaguely recognized it.

"I got a kid too." Rosi started. "Stubborn boy, but I adore him and I believe – or I'd like to believe – that he likes me too." He turned his head to stare at a photo across the room of a boy with dark hair and dark skin.

Belle followed his gaze and had to squint her eyes to see the photo clearly. "He sure doesn't look like you." She commented. "Does he take after his mom?"

Rosi got a troubled look on his face and shrugged. "Could be, I'm not sure. Never met his mother. Or his father. Law doesn't like to talk about it, even now, so I don't ask."

"Ah, adopted too then."

Rosi nodded. "Yeah, only I didn't find him while at work."

"How did you find him then?" She pushed.

Rosi's frown deepened. "My brother found him somehow, neither of them will tell me how they met. The thing is that my brother is an abusive asshole who shouldn't be near children." Rosi didn't look at Belle as he told her. "Or people in general, actually."

"So you…" Belle had to search for the right words. "So you saved him?"

"In a way, yes." Rosi admitted. "When I found out what he was doing, I reported my brother to the police and tried to get all the children away from him. It took a while and when the police finally came into action, most of those kids were already too corrupted by _him_ –" Rosi almost spat out the word, "and Law was the only one who wasn't shipped off to strangers in foster care or something. Law willingly stayed with me though."

Belle grinned. "That already is a sign of love."

Rosi smiled back shyly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Belle searched through a few cabinets for plates until Rosi pointed a finger to where she had to look.

"So what about your brother? Is he out of the picture now?"

"He is for at least another ten years." The relief was audible in Rosi's words and in his eyes, Belle detected a bit of pain.

Before they would go on and on about Rosi's brother, Belle changed the subject. "So what about Law? What is he doing now?"

Rosi's expression changed immediately. "He's at his university now! As a second year medicine student, he's pretty busy at the moment."

He helped Belle set the table so they could eat.

"That must mean you're very proud of him."

"I am." Rosi agreed.

They ate in silence. Rosi clearly was enjoying the food Belle made and she apparently was too hungry to think about talking between bites. Sometimes, she glanced at the photos in the apartment, hanging on the wall behind Rosi.

Rosi managed to eat without hurting himself too much, which was a miracle on itself.

Belle washed the dishes, beginning to grab the full extent of Rosi's clumsiness.

He'd offered to help and that wasn't that big of a success. First, he burned his fingers because the water was too hot, then he cut himself on the knife Belle had used for chopping. She quickly got him a band aid from her own bag (and gave the rest of the box to Rosi) and asked with a wink if a kiss on the cut would help against the pain, to which Rosi said no. Not much later, he also managed to drop one of the plates, much to Belle's enjoyment.

Right after finishing up, Rosi showed her his spare bedroom and Belle said goodnight. She told him she was tired from traveling so much in the past few days and Rosi had to agree that she looked pretty tired.

He returned to his living room to watch some brainless quiz show on TV and fell asleep even before the first commercial had only started.

Rosi woke up to the smell of pancakes and a turned off TV. It smelled like that one time he and Law had tried to bake them. The moment Law had let Rosi near the frying pan, it had caught on fire. Of course the familiar smell reminded Rosi of the unburnt pancakes, which they had managed to salvage.

He lifted his head and was immediately greeted by Belle's voice.

"Good morning, sleepy head."

Rosi looked at his kitchen just in time to see Belle add another pancake to the mountain that was already on the plate.

He laughed. "How many people do you think are gonna join us?"

"I'm hungry." Belle shrugged.

Rosi got up and walked over to the kitchen to look at Belle working.

"How hungry are you exactly?"

Belle looked at the pan and checked the pancake in it. "Very. Plus, you have a guest arriving shortly."

"A guest?"

"Yep. He called while you were asleep so I picked up the phone for you."

"Okay…" Rosi said confused.

Belle smiled at him reassuringly. "You'll see."

"I suppose." Rosi wasn't very reassured.

"Now go freshen up, you look like you've been sleeping on the couch all night." Belle waved him away. "Lunch will be done soon, so go."

The bell rang just as Rosi emerged from his bedroom, washed and clean. He wanted to open the door, but Belle's voice stopped him.

"I'll get it, I'll get it, you sit down at the table."

Rosi reluctantly complied and turned away from the door to sit on his usual chair and wait for Belle and the mystery guest to arrive. Some murmur came from the hallway, though Rosi didn't recognize the second person besides Belle.

They emerged from the hallway and Belle guided their guest to their seat. "Sit over there, I'll serve lunch."

The guest brushed with their hand slightly over Rosi's shoulder before they sat down and when they did, Rosi recognized the familiar shirt and his eyes quickly shot up to the wearer's face.

"Law!"

Law let out a breath and smiled. "Hi, Cora-san."

Belle appeared with the plate containing the mountain of pancakes.

Rosi didn't see it. He was looking at Law as if he hadn't seen him in ages, though Law had visited home a few weeks earlier.

Belle happily gestured the men were allowed to eat and they both dropped a pancake on their plate and dug in.

"Law," Rosi started between two bites, "I thought you had to study for your exams next week, so why are you home?"

Law swallowed his bite and looked at Rosi, his expression partially surprised and partially saying 'I knew it'. He cleared his throat. "Cora-san, when was the last time you checked the date?"

Rosi looked at him confused and Law explained.

"Those exams… They were this week. I'd promised you to call when I would come home, so I did." Law shoved another piece of pancake in his mouth.

Rosi's mouth hung open from surprise. "They were this week? But I wanted to wish you good luck and cheer you on! I even bought balloons!"

Law's eyes widened (in a comically fashion). "You did what?!" The piece of pancake on his fork fell, which was only halfway to his mouth, but Law didn't notice.

"He did actually, they're in the spare bedroom." Belle decided to join in.

In a second, Law stood up and went to check the room. He came back with a dark face.

"Why, Cora-san?" He asked.

Rosi put down his knife and fork and looked at Law, big eyed. "But I thought you would like them."

Law's sigh was deep and his facepalm was loud. "And you thought they were gonna help because…?" He sat down again. "I wouldn't have gotten them before those exams anyway." He answered his own question.

Rosi wasn't prepared for this realization. He stumbled over his words, ignoring what Law just said. "Do you want me to get them? So you can bring them to your room on campus?" Rosi didn't wait for Law to answer that and almost ran to get the balloons.

"Don't trip!" Law shouted behind him, not looking at Rosi.

No three seconds later, something hard fell, quickly followed by an 'I'm okay!'.

Law turned to Belle. "Sorry about that."

"No problem?" Belle grinned. "Is he always like this?"

Law huffed. "Yeah. Yeah, he is."

Belle rested her chin on her palm, looking at him with curiosity. "But you don't mind, do you?"

He couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Nah. He's always been like this and most of the time, when it's not annoying, I can appreciate him trying." Law saw Belle's eyes flick to something behind him. "Where are you gonna leave those?" He asked, not looking at Rosi.

"Just here, tied to the lamp."

Law couldn't deny that was probably the best place to leave them. They would not overheat, as the lamp hasn't worked for years, and they wouldn't be in the way much. It also was the best place for Law not to forget them when he'd leave for university again.

"How did you get here anyway? Are the trains working again?" Belled asked Law.

He shook his head while focusing on slicing up his pancake. "I arrived here by bus, unfortunately. If I had been able to take a train I would have been here sooner than noon."

Belle's smile disappeared from her face. "Oh."

"I heard from someone that the trains won't be working until tomorrow, I'm sorry."

Belle waved his apology away. "It's not your fault or anything, so don't worry about it." She turned to Rosi. "The only question now is if I can stay here another night."

Before Rosi could answer, Law already did for him. "On one condition." His gaze shifted from Rosi to Belle.

Rosi looked at him quite offended that Law didn't let him respond, but had no time to put it in words.

"Oh? The little kid is now demanding things from his dad? How cute. Tell me, your wish is my command."

Law's eyebrow twitched, though he sounded calm. "You're in charge of dinner tonight. It'd save us from one possible fire tonight and I bet you can cook better than Cora-san anyway."

"Deal."

"Do I get a say in this?" Rosi asked wide-eyed.

"No." Law and Belle said simultaneously. Belle was determined, but had a bit of worry in her eyes, as if she was worried Rosi would throw her out for some reason.

Rosi sighed in defeat. "Guess I can't say no to that."

Belle cheered and Law produced an almost invisible smile.

"I'll do some shopping after lunch then." Belle decided. "Law, will you be joining us for dinner too?"

Law had to think about that. "Probably. I got invited to a party and I'll be staying there for the night, so you don't have to worry about me disturbing your sleep or something in the middle of the night."

Rosi frowned. "You just got home and you're already going out again." It sounded almost like a pout.

Law finished his current pancake and loaded a new one on his plate. "I'll be home the rest of the week too, no worries about not seeing me."

Rosi looked relieved hearing that.

Lunch (and Rosi's breakfast) was done before the pancake mountain had disappeared completely.

Belle cleared the table and put the leftover food in the fridge. Law, who didn't want Rosi to break without any more plates than he had to, helped her wash the dishes.

Instead, Rosi moved to the couch where he had slept on. Soon after, Belle announced she was going to shop and left the apartment.

"I gave her directions to the nearest supermarket and told her someone would let her in if she rings the doorbell." Law said as he sat down next to Rosi.

"Thank you." Rosi ignored Law staring at him. After a minute or so, Law turned to look at the black TV screen. It was clear he wanted to say something, but Rosi didn't know what exactly.

"She said I look exactly like in the picture you have on the wall."

Rosi checked said photo. "She's definitely right about that. You only aged, that's all." He turned his head at Law. "And you got maybe less cute."

Law laughed. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

"You're welcome." Rosi smiled.

They remained silent for some minutes.

"How's your back?" Law asked.

Rosi shrugged. "Same as always. I had a good few weeks, but you know as well as I do that doesn't have to mean anything."

Law covered his eyes with his hand. "I know. Let me know when it starts to hurt again, okay?" Law the Doctor spoke. Of course Rosi wouldn't dare to disobey Doctor Law's order.

"I promise, doc." Rosi grinned.

Law elbowed him, receiving a nice 'oof' in return.

"Thanks for your concern about yourself." Law said in a sarcastic tone.

Rosi pretended not to hear it.

In their silence, he turned on the TV and they both watched it for a while, looking at a show neither of them was really interested in.

"You know, Cora-san." Law said during a particular boring moment in TV history. "The trains actually are running again since this afternoon."

Rosi almost fell off the couch in shock. "Then why didn't you say so?"

Law looked him in the eye. "Because of reasons."

"What reasons?"

"Because you like her, don't you?"

When Rosi wanted to deny it, Law interrupted him. "At least you like her being here, that I could tell you even before I arrived here."

Rosi's mouth moved, but no words came out, clearly too stunned to speak.

Law smirked. "You can't hide anything from me, Cora-san, you never could."

Rosi regained the ability to speak. "How did you know?"

"Don't look so dumbfounded, you." Law laughed. "It's not a bad thing. I have a number of things, are you sure you wanna hear them?"

Rosi nodded.

"First of all, this is the first time, as far as I know, that you've let a woman sleep in your apartment in all the years that I've known you. You wouldn't even let some of my friends stay over when I asked."

Rosi didn't say anything for a moment. "… That's not true. Your friends have always been allowed to stay over."

Although Law sighed, he didn't argue, knowing it would be pointless. "Second of all, you didn't oppose at all when I said Bellemère should cook instead of you. You barely even let me cook, let alone someone you've known for a day!"

Rosi awkwardly looked away. "That's…"

"True, yes."

Law's gaze made Rosi uncomfortable.

"Come on, Cora-san, you know I'm right."

Rosi surrendered. "And now what? You're gonna say that you planned going out tonight after realizing this?"

"So you're not denying it?"

Rosi pouted. "Not exactly."

Law huffed. "To answer your question, no, we had already agreed on meeting up tonight and staying over was something I was considering until I pretty much arrived here." He grinned. "I think leaving you two alone tonight is the best idea."

Rosi couldn't think of something to say in response to that and kept quiet.

Law stood up. "I'm gonna unpack my stuff." He announced.

He'd barely closed the door behind him when Rosi shouted something after him. "I don't mind other people cooking for me!"

"Yeah, you only try to take over at least a hundred times." Law replied dryly, looking over his shoulder. "And you only stop when dinner's either ready or ruined. I can't recall all the times we had to order a pizza because you decided to set the kitchen on fire." He smiled.

Rosi looked at him, not feeling guilty at all.

"Remember when we had just moved here and neither of us knew how to cook? I think delivery guys from more than five places knew my name and some even brought extra food whenever they had to come."

Rosi smiled, thinking back to that time. This was the first place they lived in with the two of them and it took Rosi six months to learn some decent cooking skills. Even after that, they had to order food at least twice a week. Law joined quickly and with cooking together they managed to survive for the past ten years.

Dinner went smoother than Rosi had experienced in a long while.

Belle had come back with many ingredients and she told the men that it would be a surprise for what exactly they'd get for dinner, meaning they weren't allowed in the kitchen. It turned out to be tapas, all different kinds of small dishes, some (really) spicy while others were not at all. Rosi and Law, not used to a feast like this, gratefully dug in.

Along with the food, Belle had served bread too, though she didn't seem to notice only two people were actually eating their dinner with a slice of bread. It wasn't really necessary to have it, it was more an extra to get the spicy flames out of one's mouth. Especially Rosi's mouth.

Law shot some worried looks in the basket's direction, making sure the bread wasn't getting too close to him.

Rosi conveniently placed the basket between himself and Belle, to ease Law's worries a bit. Of course he knew about the traumatic event that had caused Law to be so wary of bread.

They were down to the last slice when Belle asked Law if he wanted it.

"No, thank you." He responded politely.

"Why not? You haven't had a single piece yet." It was an innocent question and Law knew she meant no harm asking it.

"I'm not very keen on bread." Law answered, focusing on his food rather than looking at Belle.

Belle frowned, confused. "Why? How can't you like sliced bread?"

This time, Rosi cut in before Law had time to get angry (which mostly happened when people asked Law why he didn't like bread).

"A toast accident. Mostly my fault too. Didn't mean to traumatize him so much, but I guess this is what I get for burning off his eyebrows. We were lucky his face didn't get burned with it." Rosi laughed awkwardly.

Law shot him a death glare that didn't go unnoticed by the other two.

Belle laughed. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry for asking."

Law nodded, accepting her apology. He changed the subject to think about something else.

"Cora-san said you have two girls at home, won't they miss you now that you're stuck here?"

"They won't."

Rosi and Law were a bit taken aback by Belle's quick answer.

"I've been away for a few months and I wouldn't be home until next Friday. I wanted to surprise them by being home tomorrow but I guess that's not gonna happen." She explained.

Rosi eyed Law to see if he had the slightest look of guilt on his face, which wasn't the case.

"They are fully capable of taking care of themselves and in case of an emergency, my neighbor is always happy to take care of them for a few days until I'd get back."

"Is your neighbor the granny type, who always makes sure all the kids will get food until they explode?" Law teased, completely relaxed again.

Belle tried to hide her smile, unsuccessfully. " _He_ is an old buddy of mine, we were in the same squad with the marines. He'd try to kill you though, for calling him a granny."

Law shrugged. "I'd like to see him try."

"He'd accept your challenge in a heartbeat."

"Well, Cora-san, it seems like I'll be going to the west coast to beat up an old man's ass. Care to join?"

Rosi didn't know how to answer that.

"If you both come, you should stay at my place. It might be a little small, but I think you'll like it. You both would be welcome to stay."

A fierce kick landed on Rosi's shin from Law's side.

"We'd love that." He said quickly to avoid more abuse from his attacker.

Law looked the other way.

"Great! Remind me to give you my address before I leave."

"Will do." Law nodded.

After finishing dinner and washing the dishes with Law, Belle declared she was going to take a shower and left to do that, leaving Law and Rosi alone for a while.

"What are you gonna do next?" Law asked, his eyes on a book he wasn't really reading.

"Nothing probably."

"Maybe," Law started, "just maybe this would be nice for you. I know how lonely you can be when you're on your own." He added as Rosi opened his mouth to say something.

Rosi knew he could not deny that fact, so he shut his mouth again. He was very quick to get lonely.

That earned him a grin from Law. "See?" He slammed his book shut. "I think she'd be good for you. She's nice. Also as a friend."

Rosi's eyes lit up. "You think so?"

"I do. I kinda like her."

"Oh Law!" Rosi suddenly exclaimed. He tried to give Law a hug, who skillfully avoided the grasping arms.

Law heard a sound coming from the tiny hallway and stopped running from Rosi to see what it was.

Rosi, on the other hand, saw his opportunity and took it. With both arms. He hugged Law tightly and only then turned his head to notice Law was looking at Belle, who held a towel in one hand and was currently drying her hair with it.

"Am I seeing something I shouldn't be looking at?" She suggestively asked as Law blushed.

"Cora-san." Law said in a threatening voice. "Let me go."

Rosi, knowing the tone Law used, did as he was told. "Nope, nothing weird at all!"

Law shot Rosi a look.

"It smells like flowers now in the bathroom, I hope that's not a problem?"

"It happened before." Law assured her. "When a certain someone – I'm not giving any names, Cora-san – bought the wrong shampoo and the whole house smelled like damn flowers for months."

"At least we smelled good." Rosi defended himself.

"And I got countless comments from everyone."

"Those were all compliments, Law." Rosi said in order to calm Law down from what apparently was a second trauma he had caused (on accident). He briefly wondered how many more traumas were still handing Law to this day, but he decided it was best not to ask. They had a guest after all.

"Anyway." Belle cleared her throat. "I'll try to get the smell away a bit. Just a moment." She disappeared into the bathroom again.

"Listen, Cora-san." Law whispered the second the bathroom door was closed. "You've forced me to watch enough chick flicks to know what's gonna happen next."

"What's going to happen next then?" Rosi didn't know what Law was talking about.

Law just laughed mysteriously. "You don't need to worry about it." He grabbed his bag that was lying against a wall. "I'm going now."

"When will you get home?"

Law shrugged. "Before dinner sometime."

"Okay, have fun!" Rosi nodded.

Belle magically appeared in the bathroom's doorway as Law was busy tying his shoes. She gestured he had to come in.

"Is something wrong?" He asked after Belle had closed the door.

"No, not really. I only wanted to thank you for the compliment."

Law frowned. "What compli- oh, you heard that?" Law was a bit shocked. He hadn't realized she could have heard their whole conversation without them noticing.

"Yeah, I kinda did." Belle admitted.

Law had to process that. "Just… be nice to him." He finally said. "I don't care what you do as long as you're kind to him."

"I'll make sure to hit him gently." Belle winked.

"Then we're good." Law agreed. An idea popped into his head. "I know for a fact that _The Lion King_ is airing tonight on TV on XX Channel in about –" Law checked his watch, "- ten minutes. Cora-san loves Disney movies and _The Lion King_ in particular."

"Disney movies? So that's why he mentioned _Belle and the Beast_."

"He did? Of course he did."

"Anyway, thanks for the tip." Belle gave him a thumbs-up. "I'll woo my way into his heart with Disney facts before you can say the word 'clumsy'."

"I bet he knows more facts than you do, so good luck with that." Law smiled. "Well then, have a safe trip home, Bellemère."

"Thank you, Law. You have fun too."

"What are you, my mom?" Law remarked, the smile still on his face. He left the bathroom without waiting for an answer and waved at Rosi before going out the door.

Rosi waved back, slightly late, so Law didn't see it anymore.

Law left and Belle came back into the living room. She let herself fall on the couch and patted on the empty spot next to her as an invitation for Rosi to join.

Rosi sat down, at a reasonable distance from Belle. He quietly turned on the TV, to the channel he'd fallen asleep with the night before. There was a silent movie airing, Rosi didn't know its name. He wasn't interested and Belle didn't seem to be either.

The next channel played a children's talent show and Rosi quickly skipped that one too. This channel aired a certain modelling program with way too skinny women.

Rosi waited, not sure if Belle had any interest in watching this show or not.

"Next." She declared when she noticed Rosi was waiting for her. She noticed which channel they were on now seconds before it was announced that _The Lion King_ would start after the break. She wanted to secretly look at Rosi, but he was already looking at her, wanting to speak, so she turned her head to show he had her attention.

In her opinion, Rosi took too long and Belle spoke first. "Is it alright to watch this? It's been so long since I've seen it last."

Rosi's expression was priceless. He smiled brightly and nearly jumped up with the _intention_ of making a snack – or so he said. Rosi returned with a bowl of M &M's and three fingers bandaged.

Belle didn't question it, she didn't ask what happened to his fingers or the snack he had wanted to make. Instead, she accepted the bowl gladly.

The movie started and Rosi hadn't even finished his apology and started to sing along with the opening song.

It actually surprised Belle how well Rosi could sing. She waited until the song had ended, to not disturb Rosi in his flow. "I wouldn't have guessed this to start the movie with! And I certainly would not have thought you could sing so well."

Rosi awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Law and I watched this movie a lot, so I guess I'm just really familiar with the lyrics."

"You're gonna do that with every song?"

"Would you mind if I do?"

"Not at all." Belle shook her head. "Do as you please."

It was after Mufasa's death (and uncontrollable sobs coming from Rosi for which Belle grabbed him some tissues) that Belle let her head lean on Rosi's shoulder.

Rosi had calmed down considerably and moved his arm out of the way so Belle could lean more comfortable against him. He laid his arms on the back of the couch, . Belle moved a little too and together they stayed like this the remaining part of the movie.

"How did you get this shirt?" Belle asked, near the end. She was tracing one of the red hearts on Rosi's white shirt, at his inner wrist.

Rosi's hand slightly twitched, reacting to the ticklish feeling. "It was a gift from Law for Father's Day a few years ago." Rosi told her. "I'd just accidentally sentenced a few shirts to death by ironing, so he wanted to buy me a new shirt."

Rosi paused. "It's actually quite funny, because Law didn't know my size and bought five shirts in different sizes. He was lucky he also got the right size."

Belle chuckled. "He's a good kid." She then moved her head in an attempt to look at Rosi's face. "Why does Law call you 'Cora-san'?"

"It was the name he knew my by when he was with my brother." Rosi shrugged. "And since he felt comfortable calling me that, I never attempted to change that."

"How about anyone else?"

"Some people know the name, but aside from Law, no one uses it."

"Heh, so how do most people call you? Rosi? Sounds flowery."

"Most do actually." Rosi laughed. "'Rosinante' is a bit hard to pronounce for a lot of people, so I usually stick to the shortened version."

Belle poked his ribs. "Maybe it's a good idea to reintroduce flower-scented shampoo in your house."

"No!" Rosi said, a little too loud as he bent away from Belle's poking finger. "Law would burn that stuff immediately and if I got anywhere near it, I'd probably take the whole building with it."

"So you admit you're clumsy?"

Rosi showed her his bandaged fingers. "I don't really think I can deny that."

 _The Lion King_ ended with a few more tears from Rosi's side. Naturally, it was followed up by a romantic comedy. Rosi didn't bother to change channels again and Belle didn't complain.

It didn't take long for the male protagonist's tragic backstory to be revealed and Belle almost automatically handed Rosi a new tissue.

He gratefully accepted it to wipe his nose.

Near the end of the movie, when the two main characters got back together after a grave misunderstanding, Belle yawned loudly. It made Rosi check the time and it wasn't very late yet.

Belle seemed to have seen the question coming. "I've been up a few more hours than you have. Waking up early has never really left my system, even after leaving the marines."

"I see."

Fireworks went off behind the movie couple and Belle jumped up the moment the credits rolled on the screen. "Can you do something for me?"

"If I'm capable of doing it."

"Can you check for me when my train leaves tomorrow?"

Rosi nodded and grabbed a laptop from somewhere. The exterior was protected by bubble wrap and tape. He explained to Belle that it was Law's solution to the high chance of Rosi dropping the laptop. It had saved them from having to buy a new one multiple times.

Together they figured out one train leaving to Belle's next destination would leave early in the morning, one just before noon and the last one late in the afternoon. From that city, it would only be half a day of traveling until she'd be home.

Rosi convinced Belle to take the second option, because she wouldn't have to change trains more than she had to if she chose the first possible option.

Belle agreed and with that decided, she went to bed, getting ready for a new day of traveling.

Rosi, with not that much to do, but also not yet ready to go to bed too, picked up the book Law had been reading, opened it at a random part and read two chapters before he realized it was the thriller he'd given Law for his last birthday.

Rosi had seen it by chance and had thought Law might find it interesting.

Law had been happily surprised and had recently started reading it and continued every time he was home. Between visits, Law didn't have enough time besides (mostly) studying to read books for fun. Rosi was already happy Law was actually reading the book.

Two chapters into the middle of the story and Rosi didn't understand any of it. He restarted at the beginning, with the hopes of getting it now. Even then he had to stop after a number of pages.

Right from the start, the apparent killer was explaining with very detailed descriptions how he killed his victims and what else he did to them. It made Rosi wonder why Law liked reading this book, but then he remembered Law had a thing for books like this. Something about being intrigued the killer's thoughts and deeds.

For Rosi, the explicitness was a little too much. It got so bad he had to turn on his laptop for the second time that day, this time to google pictures of cats, to calm himself down. That took a while and the next time Rosi checked the time it was pretty late and he went to bed too, almost knocking the lamp with the balloons tied to it over in the process.

"Do you have everything?" Rosi asked, not for the first time in ten minutes.

"Yep, I think I do." Belle assured him.

"And your train ticket?"

"Right here." Belle showed him the piece of paper.

Her train was about a minute away from departure and she and Rosi didn't know what to say anymore.

"I've received a text from Law the he has gotten my info in case you might lose it." Belle winked.

"That's good to hear." Rosi knew how good he was at making things disappear.

Belle's eyes focused on Rosi's face. "There's something… Wait, I got it." She used her hands to steady Rosi's head and placed a kiss on his cheek. The very faint shimmer of chapstick immediately disappeared with the blush that rose up to Rosi's cheeks.

"That's better." Belle grinned. Someone blew on a whistle and Belle looked away to the source. "That'll be my cue to leave." She took a step and was now inside the train. "Thank you for letting me stay. I've left tonight's dinner in the fridge, if you want it."

Rosi, who hadn't known about this third dinner, searched for a good response. "You're great at acting like you're my wife."

"Yeah and you're good at acting like you're my husband. Now wipe that huge grin off your face." Belle herself was smiling too and Rosi didn't listen to her.

They said a last 'bye' and the doors closed. Belle waved one last time as the train started riding and Rosi waved back just in time.

She disappeared from his sight and Rosi dropped his hand. Not making haste to catch a bus, Rosi went back home.

Coming through the door, Rosi noticed Law had returned too. He just came out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereals in one hand and a spoon in the other.

Law looked at him, registering the expression Rosi wore. He turned away to walk to the couch. "There's something on your cheek."

Rosi laughed. "I've been told that earlier."

"Then do something about it."

"In a minute." Rosi shrugged off his coat and put it away.

"What movie do you wanna watch?" Law asked, looking back at Rosi.

Rosi didn't need time to think about that. "How about _The Lion King_?"

Law stuck up a thumb for Rosi to see and seated himself. Without skipping a heartbeat he grabbed the remote and started up the Disney movie. Law knew Rosi well enough to have anticipated what he wanted after all.

Rosi hurriedly threw off his shoes to be on time to sing along with the opening credits.


End file.
